NIO Closes the Self-Driving Charge-and-Go Loop in Cedar 1.5.0 — ET9 and All-New ES8 Get NWM Co-Pilot, Compound NOA and 50 mm Body-Rise Defense

NIO began rolling out the Cedar 1.5.0 OTA on June 18, 2026, packaging more than 80 new and optimized features into a single release for ET9 and all-new ES8 owners. The headline is no longer just a feature list. Cedar 1.5.0 is the first NIO software branch where the autonomous “drive yourself to a charge or swap, then drive back into traffic” loop runs end to end without driver hand-off — a milestone NIO had been promising since 2024.

From Compound Gates to Battery-Swap Bays Without Disengaging

Three intelligent-driving additions stack to close the loop. In-compound point-to-point NOA lets the car drive itself through automated barrier gates and transition seamlessly between underground parking, compound roadways and city-NOA-covered streets. City-NOA battery-swap auto-routing lets the car self-navigate to a swap station, complete the swap with no human intervention and re-enter NOA traffic. And NWM (NIO World Model) human-machine co-pilot lets the driver intervene on steering or throttle without disengaging NOA on highways and city expressways — the system continues managing the untouched control axes and resumes full automation once the driver releases. Path planning now also recognizes tidal-flow lanes and variable-direction lanes, two scenarios that had historically tripped Chinese-market NOA stacks.

Active Safety: First Production Body-Rise Impact Mitigation

The omnidirectional defense system NIO previewed during the ET9 reveal is now in production. Between 0 and 60 km/h, when the sensor stack predicts an imminent collision with a large vehicle (truck, bus, coach) on the front, side or rear, the active suspension lifts the body 50 mm within 0.7 seconds to reduce cabin intrusion. NIO claims this is the first production deployment of body-rise impact mitigation on any Chinese-market BEV. New smart light functions add a 50 m forward / 23 m wide exploration carpet and a lane-change projection visible to following traffic.

Cabin, NOMI and World Cup Theme Pack

The cockpit picks up MIGU Video and Lark (Feishu) as native apps, three new lock sounds, an intuitive multi-band equalizer and 50 customizable football-jersey templates timed to the 2026 World Cup. NOMI gains a Nine Continuous Shot animation plus a Year-of-the-Horse hat that ties into TiAn full-active suspension to physically rock the body in time with the AI animation. For the full 80-plus item changelog, the parking, object-recognition and dual-trim eligibility detail (ET9 from 788,000 RMB; all-new ES8 from 406,800 RMB), see iEVChina’s full Cedar 1.5.0 release breakdown.

Source: Autohome.com